Editors

Ghana pulls down Gandhi statue over ‘racist’ writings about Africans

A controversial statue of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi has been pulled down at the University of Ghana following protests and petitions for its removal.

After its unveiling two years ago, the monument sparked protests among students and faculty members, who claim that Gandhi was “racist” and African figures should be put up first, according to a Change.org petition.

Gandhi was renowned across the world for his peaceful activism and remembered for his successful push for India’s independence from Britain’s colonial rule. He was assassinated in 1948.

Nicknamed the “Soldier of peace,” he lived in South Africa for 21 years, but some passages in his early writings about the African continent have generated controversy.

Citing passages attributed to some of these writings, lecturers petitioned the University of Ghana Council to take down the monument, saying the independence leader made racist comments about Black South Africans.

Ghana’s former government promised to relocate the statue after the protests two years ago, but it remained standing until this week.

The figure was removed from where it had stood on a recreational area of the university campus in Ghana’s capital of Accra since 2016.